“Good listening—the active and disciplined activity of probing and challenging the information garnered from others to improve its quality and quantity—is the key to building a base of knowledge that generates fresh insights and ideas. Put more strongly, good listening, in my experience, can often mean the difference between success and failure in business ventures (and hence between a longer career and a shorter one).”

In this February 2012 McKinsey Quarterly article, the author describes the power of effective listening skills to engage and develop talent, drive innovation, and facilitate organizational results. We all could use a reminder of the importance of listening and this article provides some tools to help us achieve expertise as effective listeners. If you want to lead effectively, you need to practice listening skills.

“Throughout my career, I’ve observed that good listeners tend to make better decisions, based on better-informed judgments, than ordinary or poor listeners do—and hence tend to be better leaders. By showing respect to our conversation partners, remaining quiet so they can speak, and actively opening ourselves up to facts that undermine our beliefs, we can all better cultivate this valuable skill.”

“Leaders play a critical role in setting the conditions for a team to successfully manage a project. If you focus on the following four key roles you can play on a project as the project leader you’ll dramatically improve the odds of project success. More important, you’ll create a culture where your team members trust you and know you’re doing everything you can to help them succeed.”

In this January 16, 2012 article from the thoughtLEADERS blog, the author discusses the difference between project management, and project leadership.

As a DFS leader, you are managing various projects for which you are responsible for delivering excellent results. The four key roles detailed in the article, if played well, will make all the difference in the success of your project.

More from the article:

“In creating the right culture, you’ll boost morale, reduce turnover, improve productivity, and generally have a team that wins more often.”